Decoding Meta’s move to snap up Manus

AI agent developer, has been acquired by Meta for an undisclosed sum, as the social media giant steps up spending to close the gap with rivals such as Google and OpenAl.

- KARAN MAHADIK

Originally founded in China, Manus made its debut with a general-purpose AI agent—LLM-powered systems that can autonomously navigate the web and complete tasks on behalf of the user. It was part of the wave of Chinese AI startups that sprouted and sparked buzz in the wake of DeepSeek’s triumph, drawing attention for developing AI agents capable of executing complex ‘general’ tasks like market research, coding and data analysis.